Abstract

Writing a textbook is a generally difficult undertaking. Writing an international law textbook is particularly challenging, in at least two respects. Conceptually, there is no 'simple' introduction to international law, particularly when one's point of reference is domestic law. Complications related to international law's unique juridical nature, which Megret aptly describes as being 'a law "in between"', manifest themselves in 'international law's subjects, its ethical tenor, its organising social principle, its epistemological outlook, its normative structure, its relationship to domestic law, and its functional modus operandi' (Frederic Megret 'International law as law' in James Crawford & Martti Koskenniemi (eds) The Cambridge Companion to International Law (2012) 64). From a practical perspective, as the subject is international, as it were, the marketplace is far larger than that of domestic legal texts, and so is the competition. As a result, one either has to compete with well-established, general treatises of the like of Brownlie's Principles of Public International Law 8 ed (2012) by James Crawford, or specialise the text by pitching it at a certain level or a particular audience. Examples of 'level-specific' texts are Complete International Law 2 ed (2014) by Ademola Abbas or Textbook in International Law 7 ed (2013) by Martin Dixon. Examples of 'audience-specific' texts are Public International Law: An Australian Perspective 2 ed (2005) by Sam Blay, Ryszard Piotrowicz & B Martin Tsamenyi and, closer to home, International Law: A South African Perspective 4 ed (2011) by John Dugard.